Senate Republicans Just Gave Ted Cruz's Campaign a Huge Boost

Don't look now–I mean it. Don't look, for the love of god!–but the Republicans in the United States Senate just guaranteed Ted Cruz's presidential campaign a huge boost among those anonymous hayshaking Bible-bangers who are the only Republicans who matter to that effort. And the way you know that is the fact that, in response, Ted Cruz got up on the floor of the Senate and brought the temple down on his head.

After the Senate voted to end debate on a resolution to fund the government, Cruz tried to procedural move to bring up one that wouldn't fund Planned Parenthood. His colleagues blocked him, even though senators are routinely granted votes on such measures even if they're destined to fail. In other words, it's a swift parliamentary smack in the face. Once the dust settled around 6:15 p.m., Cruz dug in for more than hour of his classic hits on D.C., channeling his base's "volcanic" frustration with Republican congressional leadership via Planned Parenthood, the Iran nuclear deal and the Barack Obama administration. "I will give President Obama and the Senate Democrats credit," said Cruz. "They are willing to crawl over broken glass with a knife between their teeth to fight for [their] principles. Unfortunately, leadership on my side of the aisle does not demonstrate the same commitment…The people who show up at the polls, who elected you and me, and who elected this Republican majority, far too many of the Republican donors look down on those voters as a bunch of ignorant hicks and rubes…It wasn't too long ago when the Washington Cartel was able to mask it all with a show vote or two, and they'd tell the rubes back home, 'See, we voted on it, we just don't have the votes."

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Right now, the Tailgunner appears to be in the same position vis a vis his colleagues as was Fred Van Ackerman, the fanatic senator in Allen Drury's Advise And Consent. This, of course, does not matter a damn. Cruz's target audience does not include Mitch McConnell or John Cornyn. His target audience is made up of a couple hundred anonymous preachers in and around Iowa, and some hardcore gun-fondlers in New Hampshire. What is a republic to do when the best move that a candidate of one of its two political parties can make to get elected is to trash as best he can every institution of that republic, including the leadership of his own party? Where in the hell does that leave the rest of us?

By denying Tailgunner Ted a chance to make his motion, thereby prompting the shower of spittle in which its courage was completely impugned, what is chucklingly called the Republican Leadership in the Senate made what amounts to be an in-kind contribution to the Cruz '16 campaign. Hell, they all but wrote his next attack ad for him.